Aubrey Huff is in a 3-for-32 slump. He didn’t hit a ball out of the infield tonight. Before Juan Uribe’s huge homer in the ninth, it looked like Huff’s pop-up with the tying run at first base in the eighth would be a huge letdown.

Anyway, like most baseball players, Huff is superstitious. So he made a little, ahem, alteration to his uniform to help change his luck.

He’s wearing a red thong. And not the kind that Omar Vizquel used to wear. I’m pretty sure this one came from the lingerie department, not men’s furnishings.

“We’re 3-1 with it,” he blared after tonight’s raucous victory. “I might never get a hit the rest of the year, though.”

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Speaking personally, the last thing we need is for Huff to go 4-for-4 with the thong. Then he’ll wear it the rest of the season. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a problem, but he walks around the clubhouse in it. He conducts interviews wearing only his thong. I’m not sure about this, but I think he wears little else while in the food room, too.

That can’t fly with the health inspector.

—
Whenever the Giants get a huge victory, Huff’s reaction is the best. He’s waited a decade for moments like these. And he, along with Pat Burrell, also started a little tradition in the dugout: The slug-a-teammate maneuver.

When something remarkable happens on the field, you’ll see Huff punch guys in the chest. There was just one problem tonight.

“I really wanted to, but I think I was standing next to DeRosa,” Huff said. “He’s hurt. I didn’t want to punch a hurt guy.”

—
So I hear that Huff and Burrell got themselves matching yellow blazers with the University of Miami logo on the chest. They wore them on the team flight down to Los Angeles. They probably looked like bowl representatives.

No need to make a visit to watch USC, though. Bah-dum-dum.

—
Tonight’s game was stirring, no doubt. It was the kind of game that can send a team soaring. It certainly was a huge lift for the Giants – and it might make the Padres’ nether regions tighten up a little more after they lost their ninth consecutive. (A thong probably wouldn’t help them, then.)

I may be the wet blanket here, but if I’m a diehard Giants fan, I’d rather see my team win a game in typical, boring fashion – great starting pitching, early runs, late-inning defensive changes and a stalwart inning or two from the bullpen.

That’s how the Giants were designed to win games. They’ve changed the blueprint somewhat as the season’s gone along, but I still believe the Giants will go as far as their starting pitching will carry them.

You can’t always count on four homers in the seventh inning or later. It sure worked tonight, though.

—
Here’s a link to the notebook, with a look at the new dynamic between Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot. Game story isn’t posted yet, but I’m sure you want to see the quotes from tonight. So I’ll cut and paste the unedited copy at the end of this file.

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—
Congratulations to Darren Ford on his first major league stolen base. It was a big one in the eighth inning, although the Giants weren’t able to tie as Buster Posey’s fly ball ended up in Matt Kemp’s glove in center field.

Good lord, Posey has power, though. That homer he hit in the seventh easily went halfway up the pavilion.

—
Jose Guillen was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. The first three were on called pitches. He swung through a Jonathan Broxton fastball in the ninth to precede Cody Ross’s infield hit, which preceded Uribe’s home run.

I simply cannot believe Bruce Bochy will start Guillen again tomorrow. He hasn’t hit for enough power to justify the defensive hit the Giants take by putting him in right field.

—
Here’s a wild idea: How about the Giants try to trade for Adam LaRoche?

If nothing else, they’ll make sure they won’t have to face LaRoche in their six remaining games against Arizona. (He’s hitting .302 with five homers, four doubles and 16 RBI in 11 games against San Francisco this season.)

And since the Diamondbacks are done with the Padres, there’s nothing more LaRoche can do to help the Giants in an Arizona uniform.

Play LaRoche at first base and move Huff back to right field against right-handers. Wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. It’d certainly beat playing Guillen out there.

LaRoche wouldn’t be eligible for the postseason roster, but hey, you do whatever you have to do to get there.

—
Triple-A Fresno was eliminated from playoff contention, but Bochy said the Giants might wait until after the Grizzlies’ season finale Monday before they promote more players. Eugenio Velez, Emmanuel Burriss and Ryan Rohlinger are among the candidates, but hard-hitting prospect Brandon Belt is the most eagerly anticipated of the bunch.

The plan had become less clear for left-hander Dontrelle Willis, who hadn’t pitched since Monday. He might have helped his cause tonight, though, with his best outing since joining the organization. His eighth inning went strikeout-strikeout-groundout.

—
Thank you, Vanderbilt center, for biffing on that two-point conversion try late in the fourth quarter. And thank you, Mr. Referee, for calling a personal foul on what looked to be incidental helmet-to-helmet contact while Northwestern was trying to run out the clock.

Northwestern 23, Vanderbilt 21.

It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll gloat nonetheless. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Buster Olney. 🙂

—
Here’s tonight’s game story:

By ANDREW BAGGARLY
Mercury News

LOS ANGELES – The San Diego Padres aren’t just opening the door for the Giants in the NL West. With their losing streak hitting nine games Saturday, the Padres are putting down red carpet, plugging in the coffee urn and arranging a fancy tray of delectable edibles.

The Giants have failed to RSVP several times during the Padres’ meltdown. But they didn’t need an invitation Saturday night.

They knocked the door down with four home runs, all coming in the seventh inning or later, to rally from a four-run deficit and take a stunning, 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers that will linger in memory.

With one out in the ninth, Juan Uribe hit a two-run shot off Jonathan Broxton that silenced the crowd at Chavez Ravine and turned his own dugout into a mosh pit.

The loud drive into the left field pavilion gave the Giants a one-run lead and completed a comeback that began with Buster Posey’s solo home run in the seventh off left-hander Ted Lilly.

“It’s funny to see guys who’ve been in this league 10 years, 30 or 35 years old, jumping around like little kids,” Posey said.

The rookie catcher has a thing to learn about these dugout celebrations, though. He slipped and fell down the stairs, and sheepishly said he wasn’t pushed.

“I’m all right,” he said.

The Giants own 33 comeback victories this season, and Saturday’s was the third in which they erased a four-run deficit. But nobody saw this stirring end coming – especially after left-hander Ted Lilly held the Giants without a hit from Aaron Rowand’s game-opening double to Posey’s homer in the seventh.

Uribe was in a 2-for-22 slump before Cody Ross beat out an infield single and Broxton left a 1-0 slider over the plate.

Burrell had his own act in the drama. His third career pinch homer came against Octavio Dotel in the eighth, and followed a leadoff shot from Edgar Renteria that chased Lilly. Renteria, playing for the first time since Aug. 10, snuck his drive just inside the left field pole.

And Ross, whose hyperactivity is a handy thing to have in a pennant race, sprinted down the line in the ninth on his ground ball to short to bring Uribe to the plate.

“I got chills running around the bases,” Ross said. “I couldn’t wait for him to get home so I could give him a double high-five.”

Uribe got pummeled even worse once he reached the dugout.

“Punch your teammate in the chest. It’s pretty exciting,” first baseman Aubrey Huff said, grinning. “It was kind of dead in the dugout there, but it almost felt like Uribe was going to hit a home run. Cody beat out an infield hit, just set it up perfectly.

“Uribe, man, it seems every home run he’s hit has been late in games and big. For sure, he’s won five or six games for us like that.”

Brian Wilson put runners at the corners with one out, but escaped to record his NL-leading 39th save as the Giants moved within two games of the Padres and also remained three behind the Phillies in the wild card standings.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy once lost a game in this ballpark as the Padres’ manager when the Dodgers hit four consecutive home runs. He enjoyed being on the other end.

“I tell you, that’s right up there,” Bochy said. “Cody, he got us going by hustling down the line. It’s hard to get a bigger win at this stage.

“No question, we’ve been struggling offensively. We ran into another well-pitched game. But we kept it close. You give Matt a lot of credit for settling down.”

That would be Matt Cain, who allowed a three-run homer to Jay Gibbons in a four-run fourth inning but was entrusted to hit for himself in the fifth – something Bochy didn’t do for Barry Zito a night earlier. The right-hander rewarded his manager with three more scoreless innings.

“You can’t just fold,” Cain said. “Today is definitely a reason why.”

In the end, the Giants came knocking.

“Hopefully we do look back (on this game),” Bochy said. “You’re hoping some games will spur you on and build momentum.”

ENDIT

Andrew Baggarly

Andrew Baggarly has documented the most eventful era in San Francisco Giants baseball history, having covered the team since 2004 for th​ree major media outlets including the San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune​. This is his 20th season as a baseball writer.
​Baggarly is the author of the bestselling book, A Band of Misfits: Tales of the 2010 San Francisco Giants, and the newly published Giant Splash: Bondsian Blasts, World Series Parades and Other Thrilling Moments By the Bay. Baggarly’s other notable life accomplishments include running as the Bratwurst in the Milwaukee Sausage Race and becoming a three-time Jeopardy! champion.

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Baggs hardly needs me to agree with him, but he makes at least two excellent points:

1. No, this is not the way the Giants want to win. It doesn’t diminish anything from this game to say to remind ourselves that they still have a LOSING record since they started playing DHs in the outfield virtually daily.

2. Related to that, yes, Guillen should be gone from the lineup, but Bochy shouldn’t get off the hook that easily. Guillen was NEVER a good idea in regular lineup, much less the 5th spot. He hasn’t hit enough, or with enough power, in a very long time to justify the horrible defense.

What about Guillen threw Giants’ management into orgasmic fits of delusion? He was OK to pick up as a pinch hitter, I suppose, but he is way past done. His average with SF is OK because enough grounders have gotten through, but take that good luck and say thanks. Don’t give him more opportunities to return to his form of three years running.

For the pennant run, let’s get back to playing the guys that had the team, what was it, 17 games over .500 once upon a time?

That was the key. Unlike the $126 million underachieving gas-can, whose heart is about the size of a peanut, and is on fumes by his 8th warm-up pitch in the pen before the game, Cain refuses to give in, no matter the situation. That was as clutch a performance from this staff as I’ve seen in a long time.

Anybody can look good with an early 4 run lead, but only the truly tough can bounce back from an embarrassing 4-run inning, shutdown his opponents in their house thereafter to give his guys a chance to make up ground.

Thats what good pitching can do. Unfortunately for Giants fans, there are only 3 more starts until the arsonist-in-chief takes the bump again.

james

DFA GUILLEN HE IS GARBAGE, I’D RATHER SEE ROWAND PLAY

Nightcrawler

I don’t understand the giants sometimes. If we would have been offered both guillen and Cody Ross at the same time, I think we would have gone with Ross without question. Now that we have both, they refuse to play him.

Cody Ross needs to be in RF everyday. Let’s keep getting better defense and better speed anyway we can. At this point, I think Ross and guillen have about the same power potential.

Giants Fan in China

Also underrated huge play: Loney’s baserunning blunder leading off the 6th = out instead of guy on second with none out.

Giants Fan in China

One more random note: did anyone else notice Brian Wilson grab Posey’s fist when Posey gave Wilson the rock to knock at the end of the game? WTF Willie, no knock?

Sfg

Atta boy Baggs. Nice write up. What an awesome game. Good job on the Huff quotes, that guy is like the Giving Tree of quotes.

killblue

Im in tahoe tonite and let me say there were a ton of giants fans giving it to dodgers fans in the 9th.

Walter Guest

#8
That fist to fist celebration is a broken bone just waiting to happen. Teams will ban it after someone is injured.

Giants fan in INDIA (beat that China)

OK this is not the way you wanna win your games if you are the Giants…BUT one thing that this game does tell me about the Giants is that they just dont let up. Last year if they got down 1-0 it was basically over because the Giants didn’t have the confidence that you need to have in order to come back in games. That was a big concern and probably one of the main reasons we did not make the postseason last year. This season the Giants have been feistier (probably because of Huff and Posey) but the starting pitching has been worse than last year. Thus, net result is nil so far.

But if the starting pitching can get it together as a group the rest of September – then there is no doubt that we can make the playoffs, through wild card or division.

Huge victory and you’d have to expect it after seeing that “Bochy Ball” lineup. Another painful night watching the Giants. Botch, please throw your name in the hat for the Cubs job. Anybody that can win a game with that lineup can probably win a WS with the Cubs.

mordy from monsey

If the Giants miraculously get into the playoffs it will be DESPITE Sabochy not because of them. These 2 bums must be on the Dodgers payroll…Guillen, Rownad AND Rent-a-wreck ion the same lineup? Throw in the pitcher and you have almost 50% of a worhless lineup…

Exciting game though!!!!

JoeMets

steady OF should be Burrell, Torres and Ross. However, if Renteria is hitting a bit and some others tail off, you could put Huff in the OF for Ross or Burrell, and put Sandoval at 1B with Uribe at 3B.

JoeMets

BTW, anyone care to notice how the Giants are hurting against right handers since they did not pick up a lefty bat? Sabean relied on Panda and Huff and both have gone cold. Fontenot is a utility guy. Picking up LaRoche would be huge, but highly unlikely. You almost have to bring up Belt and see what he can do given the team’s problem with righties.

JoeMets

East Coast bias aside, Posey is Rookie of the Year. Hitting stats speak for themselves and he is required to handle a pitching staff through a pennant race. Hayward gets to troll around the OF.

johnny

NO MORE GUILLEN!!!!!

Ken Helwig

DFA Guillen, add Belt to the 40 and call the kid up.

E “G” B

Big Baseball IQ test coming up for Bruce Bochy.

How much longer will he fail this test by trotting out Guillen?

Saw Brandon Belt in Fresno last night:

Double to the right center gap, one hopped the wall. Struck out 3 times. Looked very patient at the plate, perhaps too patient.

Does he look ready for the bigs? No. Does he need to put some weight on his lanky frame? Yes.

It’s Messey

I’m not a Guillen fan either but we’re a team and he did stay with a long fly ball to make an out. I’d much rather see Ross play. One thing for sure it’s painful to be a Giants fan. Gas can Wilson had me freaking out in the 9th

Yoda

Just move Ross into RF and let’s roll.

C’mon Sanchez. We need another good start outta you.

Mike Souza

Way to say about GUILLEN what needed to be said Andrew Baggarly, Bochy is maddening to us all. If he would have just put his best lineup on the field from day 1 we would be comfortably ahead in the division race. Yet he still refuses to do so even when the season is on the line. I understand the GIANTS having to give guys days off because they to my dismay are the oldest team in the league, but that is no exscuse for his horrible lineups all throughout the season. I love this team’s fight, character & personality, but I despise their Manager! I was irate when he came to this team because I knew his history of bafoonery & idiocy as Padres Manager. Buckle up, this is gonna be one helluva ride GIANTS fans, but if we had a different driver than Bochy we would have a lot smoother journey to our destination!

Kenny Poopers

Biggest win of the year and more complaints than excitement here. Go figure.

Winning seasons are built upon magical moments. Last night was a magical moment.

Mike Souza

@KENNY POOPERS- That was one helluva win last night & that is a fact! I watched the entire maddening/exhilarating game, lost my voice & screamed like a lunatic when Uribe ht that HR. That is what makes baseball the great sport it is…but Bruce Bochy is still holding this team back with his moronic, indefensible decisions! Now let’s go win this series G-MEN…..BEAT LA, BEAT LA, BEAT LA, BEAT LA!!!!

Readytohangmyself

Come on Kenny, this team has been floundering for over a month. Players slumping, pitchers tanking and a buffoon for a manager. If it wasn’t for the Pads in a death spiral, we wouldn’t even be in this thing. This is one of the most frustrating teams that I can ever recall. I’m having trouble watching these games lately.

Hasreorg

I agree that Guillan should not be playing right field. He is a bat off the bench at best. I also think that Huff should be moved from number 3. Even when he is hitting, he is a number three hitter. Posey is the perfect number 3 hitter. High average and Gap to Gap power.

I would love to see Ross start over Guillen, But I wouldn’t mind if the giants kept him around as a bat off the bench. And if he does manage a pinch hit, Darren Ford can pinch run.

DalyCityBoy

The posts do seem negative but the reflect reality. The frustation with Bochy/Guillen thing is palpable. Guillen has become the latest blog punching bag. But he deserves it! It’s a simple equation. He personally is responsible for losing more games than winning them. Only pitchers should be losing games, not position players. With Ross you have a chance. Or even Huff/RF, Ishikawa/1B. Or Huff/RF, Sandoval/1B, Uribe/3B, Renteria/SS. As frustrating as Renteria can be — or any of the others including Sandoval — only Rowand compares to Guillen for the disappointment/incredulity factor.

And back to the basics: Starting Pitching. Go Sanchez!

totalfan62

BIG WIN for us last night. I shut it down at 11:45 PM (on the east coast), with the score 4-1 bottom of the 7th. What a great surprise to log on this morning and see the 5-4 win! Go Giants!!

Against tough righties, I would like to see Huff start some games in RF/LF so that Ishikawa can play 1B. He needs some ABs in order to keep that pinch-hitting stroke strong. Another option with Huff in the OF is Panda at 1B and Uribe at 3B, with Renteria at SS.

We will need contributions from everyone down the stretch if we are to make the playoffs. Guillen’s role should be right-hand pinch-hitter, with maybe one start a week. Cody Ross should start in RF vs lefties, Huff and Ishikawa in there vs. righties.

Another big game tonight, national TV (ESPN), great opportunity to put up a big win and slap down the Dodgers once again.

GO GIANTS!! BEAT L.A.!!

iamwatching

Let us hope Sanchez has spent more time visualizing his performance today, than staring at his facial hair in the mirror trying to get it just right. He should come out of the closet.

Gamertude

Great win, keep the momentum going. You’re right Baggs and so is everybody else who watches baseball: NO MORE JOSE GUILLEN!!!! He is terrible and if he is not hitting for power he is detrimental to this team, sit him down and relegate his role to pinch hitting period.

Expat

Baggs is right. Freak wins like this are exhilarating but not how the Giants will (hopefully) make it to the playoffs. I concur with all the voices crying for Guillen to be anywhere but on the field. Pinch hitting maybe but please nothing more.

Today against the righty I’d take Huff, Torres and Ross in the OF with Ishikawa, Sanchez, Uribe or Fontenot and Pablo around the infield. That’s good defense and a lot of lefties.

DProfessor

DFA Guillen.

DFA Bochy.

A great win despite the botchy, not because of him.

CB

Ford should get the spot start in centerfield and at the leadoff spot when Torres gets a breather from here on out. Ford has tremendous speed, has batted leadoff at different levels in the minors and can hit gap to gap, but not for average. However, his speed and above average defense are pluses for the Giants, which is less than what Rowand can offer as a backup outfielder.

Colby rasmus requested a trade. I don’t blame him considering the cardinals are going to have 400 million invested in two players when they resign pujols. Rasmus a good fit for the giants?

TRUE LOVE

San Francisco Giants 2010, the greatest ride…

HUMM BABY!!!1

still jumping up and down

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuureeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

born to despise these bloggers&ab

#13:
BEWARE these redneck bloggers are prejudiced against Latinos.

born to despise these bloggers&ab

DFA #35 and his redneck fat mouth…

born to despise these bloggers&ab

I am rooting for the Spaniards in the US Open.
¡Viva King RAFA!

born to despise these bloggers&ab

#35 is the bravo idiot, IDIOTA.

Urban Shocker

Amazing to me that so many laud the character of the team, yet give no credit to the manager for affecting same. I don’t always agree with his lineup decisions, but I find the relentless Bochy bashing, even after a superbly triumphant game like this, to be more than a little tiresome.

born to despise these bloggers&ab

44:
The usual suspects you are referring to are a bunch of diaper idiots…

ST Warrior

Not how you want to win? When you’re in the position of playing meaningful September baseball wins are wins and there’s no preferred road map to getting them. In fact as a team as well as a fan I’d say wins like last night are even more powerful providing spark, momentum and the never say die attitude necessary to make the playoffs. Keep fighting and grinding a game at a time, win series after series and October baseball will follow.

Love the fight in this team, Guillen has to go his lack of D is a huge slap in the face to the pitching nucleus of this team.

born to despise these bloggers&ab

This mediocre team is a pretender at best….

Swamp Thing

I was listening to Sunday Sportscenter on KNBR this morning and the host (don’t know who it was) read the top two paragraphs verbatim in regards to Huff’s thong. Don’t believe there was any reference to the blog post.

FIRE SABEAN

Like I said on the previous thread, I take back some of the negative things I’ve said about Uribe lately.

On the eve of the final day in the minors, a few observations on the state of the giants farm:

Overall, I would say a disappointing year. Only San Jose will make the playoffs, and they have played poorly the second half of the season. I really thought that Richmond would have a very solid year given that many of the players on the team were from last years California League champions. Somewhat weak offensively, with Brandon Belt being the exception. Speaking of Brandon Belt, he is probably a year away from being ready to contribute in a meaningful way at the big league level. Augusta has a lot of offensive firepower, too soon to tell if it will carry over to the higher levels. Wheeler seems to have been a disappointment in his first pro season. Some very solid players in the lower ranks, it will be interesting to see how they progress.

slamdunk

Since the Grizzlies are out of the playoffs there still should be no hurry to bring up anyone from their team except maybe Belt. We have already seen enough of Velez, Burriss, and Rohlinger and these guys are not going to be of much help here on in, so why waste time bringing them up. If we want to watch Velez butcher a fly ball in the outfield, we already have Guillen to perform that trick. Burriss and Rohlinger are basically all field and no hit, so we might as well stick with Fontenot, at least he can hit a little.

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